quote:

I've got a few pre-war K frames and none (I don't think) letter with Magna's.

You have a 5" NICKEL 38 Target that does!

Lee - true, but I think it's my only one. I'll check my K-32's.

A red box for a 22 Outdoorsman just closed on Ebay today for $310

Very nice gun above. I finally acquired one of my own and it has numbered stocks. Service, not magna. Of course I don't have a box and don't reallistically think I ever will. But I sure have the gun and it shoots very nice. Thanks Ed.

Roger

quote:

A red box for a 22 Outdoorsman just closed on Ebay today for $310

Lets see, 19,500 K-22 Outdoorsman boxes and 1,067 K-22 Masterpiece Boxes. That makes the Masterpiece box about 18 times rarer. So what is the going price for a nice Masterpiece box if one could be found ??

At least $1,000.

I have a K-22 2nd, SN 686498, that letters as shipping May 1940 with magnas. Magnas on it now don't number to the gun as I believe the previous owner had to scrounge a pair up. Hmm. I should check if there are any numbers on the stocks when I get back home to Hawaii...

I believe the gentleman from Kentucky is on record as believing that there are more of these boxes floating around than most of us might suspect. None of the local collectors has ever seen one, however, and they are very scarce on the big auction. The only one I have ever held was stuck back in the closet of a gunshop owner's house who was still looking for an appropriate revolver.
It is nice to have this model get a little attention on the forum. They are elegant, nice shooting guns.
Ed

I've actually landed two unoccupied boxes for prewar Masterpieces in the last few years. The first one came to me kind of melted. It had significant water damage and was sent to me, free of charge. It was still the real McCoy, and as I recall the story the person that gave it to me had found it in an old barn that was being dismantled. I appreciate the gesture. But I then passed it along, free of charge, to another needy collector that wanted it. I'm not nearly as greedy as some suspect.

Then, as luck would have it, DC put me into a great condition gun with service stocks, grip adapter, and no box! Go figure. That was several years ago. About 2 years ago I made a trip to my favorite gunshop to pick up Win M70 with SN #202! The shop owner said he wouldn't let me out the door without buying something else. I'm an easy going guy, but I was left cold by eastern Eurpean semi-autos, Rugers, and other off brand stuff. He went to that back room and emerged with a prewar red box. From 40 feet away, when I saw it, I just said "I'll take it." I was planning on it becoming the home for one of my Outdoorsman.

In the hustle of him finishing the paperwork, me drooling over my brand new Winny, we were negotiating the price. He said $100 and I said fine, just write it up. Then he came out with a bag and a rifle case for the long gun. I was concentrating on the rifle. Only as he was sticking the box into the bag for me to leave did I notice the word "Masterpiece". Scary.

So I thanked him profusely for taking my money and left. Got into the Jeep and took a quick peek at the box. Yep, it was the real McCoy.

I put the cruise control on 55 and motored up the road, everyone passing me. And me not caring one bit. I was in my glory. God had smiled upon me. A gift from heaven. The gun and box still live together, kind of shacking up.

Everytime I see a thread on K22s I can't resist looking. When I see 2nd Models, I drool. When I see Outdoorsman, I drool and look for boxes, HBH, and similar stuff. When I see 3rd models I look for big ejector rod ends, and I drool. My wife would attribute it to me being a blithering idiot. I'm happy, so I don't care.

On the box issue....I just can't imagine S&W only making 1,067 of them. From what we know about HDs, they shipped some postwar guns in blue boxes. That would tend to indicate that they didn't toss the old ones in a trash fire.

None of us really know. My low number 2nd model did come in a K22 masterpiece red box. One of my low number 3rd Models came in a gold box. I can't prove it was the original one, but its got grease pencil on the underside (OK, easy for someone to fake, but it wasn't in style to fake such stuff when I got it.)

Could be they used any excess boxes as shipping containers for the service dept to return guns to owners. Who knows.

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